The Department for Transport has responded to a campaign calling for free bus passes in England – currently available to people over 66 – to be made available to those over 60, as they are in the rest of the UK. But an expert has explained why the scheme is unlikely to be extended.
But Roger Mackett, Professor of Transport Studies at UCL, has also previously exp;lained why the scheme can’t be scrapped altogether – despite its huge cost.
A petition calling for thereduction of the eligible age for free bus travelin England has been gaining traction on the Parliament website andMP Daisy Cooper asked the Secretary of State for Transport: “Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme to provide free anytime bus travel to all disabled bus pass holders.”
Simon Lightwood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), said “The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as extending the times of use, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.
“Local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as extending the travel time criteria for the ENCTS. The Department for Transport’s concessionary travel statistics for the year ending March 2025, report that 60% of travel concession authorities provide discretionary concessions for disabled concessionary passholders to travel before 9.30am and after 11pm.”
10 years ago, free bus pass schemes across the UK already costmore than £1 billion a year.
Professor Mackett told The Conversation : “Free or reduced bus travel has been offered to older and disabled people in parts of Britain since the 1950s. The proposal for a national minimum standard of half-price local bus travel for people above the state pension age was put forward in John Prescott’s 1998 Transport White Paper, and introduced in 2001. Gordon Brown then extended the scheme in England to free local off-peak bus travel in the 2005 Budget and to travel across the country in the 2006 Budget.
“The objectives of introducing the schemes included increasing public transport use by older people, improving their access to basic necessities such as healthcare and shops, reducing their social isolation and social exclusion, and maintaining their well-being.”
He added: ” Areview of the evidencefound that the passes have had a significant impact. For example, more journeys to the shops spending money, more voluntary work being carried out, a reduction in the number of special transport services required, improved physical and mental health, maintenance of social and economic involvement in society, reduction in social inclusion and improved quality of life.
“One recent study (pre 2014) suggested that removing free bus passes for disabled people and pensioners would cost the UK economy more than £1.7 billion a year. But many of the benefits of bus passes are extremely difficult – if not impossible – to put a value on.
“For example, if the pass allows an older person to get out more and that improves their mental welfare, that is clearly of value. In some cases it could save on the cost of mental healthcare, but it would be difficult to establish how much of the better mental health was due to the bus pass and even harder to put a value on a person’s better mental outlook. Several surveys have found that the pass reduced social isolation, but how can that be valued?
“Plus, the evidence suggests that many of the journeys that are made with these passes would have otherwise been made by car – 20% is a rough (and fairly conservative) estimate. This shows that if taken away, the money would not necessarily be put back into the transport system. And this would clearly have an environmental effect too.
“Overall, it is impossible to put an exact value on all the benefits of concessionary travel passes, but it seems extremely likely that it would cost well over £1 billion to provide those benefits in other ways. This means that proposals to cut the funding for the scheme in order to reduce public expenditure are likely to lead to a lot of unhappy older people – and, because older people tend to vote, could also have a decisive impact in the general election.
“If the pass were abolished, it would probably cost the taxpayer more in the long run. And it would take a brave – or foolish – politician who is prepared to remove a popular benefit from a significant proportion of the electorate.”